Ideally, a pre-requisite to a full-scale BPR is to have the logical business processes and data documented separately from the mechanics of the current system. This should be one of the first questions that a BPR consultant should ask IF you are looking to carry out a complete re-engineering project. They should also ask whether you are considering only re-engineering certain aspects of the business, and these aspects need to be defined - each with a specific scope of functionality. If your business does not alreadyhave this information well documented then a good business analyst should be able to prepare the documentation for you - and in this case an independent BA that reports to you directly may be a good bet as it might help constrain the ambitions of your BPR partner who might encourage a more elaborate scope of work than is actually required.

A company that specializes in BPR should have a formalized methodology that is easy to understand, and it should be clear to the client company what is required of them in order to facilitate the process - it ain't gonna happen by magic and it may require plenty of effort from the client, so you need to plan for this. The BPR specialist should be able to give you some indication on the amount of effort required after carrying out some initial analysis. Again, if you had a well qualified Business Analyst reporting to you, then they can help in this process.

A business that specializes in BPR should also have a portfolio of clients for you to contact.

Hope this helps. I'm sure others on this forum can provide further ideas.

Regards,

Clive